According to the Salem Statesman-Journal, citing law enforcement sources, Salem police officers approached Hawkins, whom they correctly believed had an outstanding warrant, in the parking lot of a Walmart store, where his bus turned recreational vehicle was parked. Hawkins fled into the bus and refused commands to come out.

When more officers and a police dog arrived, Hawkins came out of the vehicle, and he and the officers exchanged fire. No one was hit, but the police dog was slightly wounded. Hawkins then retreated back into the bus.

At this point, the Salem SWAT team was called in and spent several hours attempting to negotiate a surrender with Hawkins. During this time, Hawkins again opened fire.

More than six hours into the negotiations, SWAT officers used armored vehicles equipped with battering rams to rip open the walls of the vehicle. That exposed Hawkins, who was holding a handgun and who refused to comply with demands he surrender.

Officers then opened fire on Hawkins, striking him nine times. He fell out of the bus and was transferred to Salem Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Hawkins had originally been charged with meth distribution in Lane County and had been sought on a failure to appear warrant since he didn't show up in court last December.

Decrim advances in Illinois, an Ohio legalization initiative is rolling along, asset forfeiture reform passes in Montana and is now under consideration in Michigan, Vancouver will regulate its dispensaries, and more.

2015 is looking like the year of asset forfeiture reform. (wikipedia.org)

Marijuana Policy

Illinois House Passes Decriminalization Bill. The House Thursday approved House Bill 218, sponsored by Rep. Kathy Cassidy (D-Chicago). The bill would make possession of 15 grams or less an infraction punishable only by a fine of no more than $125. Under current law, people face up to a year in jail for simple possession. The bill now goes to the state Senate.

Ohio Legalization Initiative Making Progress on Signature-Gathering. The Responsible Ohio legalization initiative campaign has gathered more than 180,000 signatures in its effort to put its initiative before voters in November. Buckeye State initiatives need 305,000 valid voter signatures to qualify for the ballot, so the group probably needs to gather something like 400,000 signatures to ensure that disqualifications don't knock it off the ballot. Responsible Ohio says it is aiming even higher -- for 700,000 signatures. They have until July to gather them. A second legalization initiative, aiming at 2016, Ohioans To End Prohibition, is just in the initial phase of its campaign, while a third effort, led by the Ohio Rights Group, says it will not manage to qualify this year and has filed Election Commission complaints claiming that people associated with Responsible Ohio have interfered with its efforts.

Heroin

Heroin Use Up Sharply in Past Decade, SAMSHA Says. The number of heroin users in the country was stable at around 400,000 between 2002 and 2007, but began increasing in 2008 and reached 681,000 by 2013, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA). But that's still less than one-third of 1% of the population. Another 11 million people, or 4% of the population, used prescription pills for off-label reasons.

Asset Forfeiture

Michigan Asset Forfeiture Reform Bill Package Filed. A bipartisan package of eight asset forfeiture reform bills was filed Wednesday with support from the legislature's Republican leadership. One bill would create uniform, mandatory reporting requirements and raise the standard of evidence needed for a seizure from "a preponderance" to "clear and convincing." Another bill would bar seizures of vehicles used by someone buying an ounce of pot or less. The package doesn't include a bill to ban civil asset forfeiture outright, but it's a start.

Florida ACLU Targets Police Field Drug Tests. The ACLU of Florida is investigating the presumptive field test kits police use to make drug arrests. The move comes just a day after Hillsborough County Public Defender called them "faulty" and "inaccurate." Scientists have reported that kits like the Nark 2 are unreliable, but thousands of people have been arrested on the basis of their field test results.

Seattle Doing Mass Arrests to Clean Up Downtown Drug Dealing Police in Seattle have arrested more than a hundred people in two days in a push to clean up open-air drug dealing downtown. The arrests involved undercover officers making marijuana, heroin, meth, and cocaine buys. Prosecutors said they would seek judicial orders barring those people from returning to the area, but that they would seek diversion programs in other cases.

International

Vancouver Moves to Regulate Marijuana Stores; Ottawa Not Happy. Vancouver has announced plans to regulate the more than 80 unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the city, making it the first city in Canada to do so. But the federal Health Minister is warning the city not to do it, saying it would "normalize" marijuana sales.

Drug Cartel Violence Flares in Mexican Border State. Gun battles and arson attacks flared for the second time in a week in Tamaulipas, just across the Rio Grande River from Texas border towns such as Harlingen and Brownsville. The brouhaha broke out after police captured four alleged Gulf Cartel members and included blockades in the town of Altamira. At least two people were killed. Earlier this month, major violence broke out in Reynosa after the arrest of a Gulf Cartel leader. More than 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed in prohibition-related violence since 2006.

According to The New Orleans Times-Picayune, citing the account provided by Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Norman at a Wednesday press conference, deputies initially pulled Willis over for a traffic violation, but smelled marijuana from his open window. (This contradicts an earlier law enforcement statement that he was targeted as part of a drug investigation.) Deputies ordered him to put his hands up and turn off the SUV, but when one deputy reached into the vehicle to grab his arm, Willis sped off.

He then crashed his SUV and took off on foot. Norman said Willis fired at deputies and that witnesses inside an office building and a restaurant saw him firing. Deputies returned fire, killing him in the parking lot of New Orleans Seafood and Hamburger.

Detectives recovered a 9 mm pistol near his body, and a .38 caliber pistol and $800 in cash in his pockets. In the SUV, investigators found a half-pound of pot packaged for sale, as well as ammunition, sandwich bags, and a vacuum sealer.

The narcs called for backup, and two deputies showed up to assist. The official account said Burgess continued to be belligerent and grabbed a gun from atop the refrigerator, pointing it at deputies. The two deputies then opened fire, killing him.

Because his death was at the hands of law enforcement, it will be investigated by the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).

A Louisiana poll shows rising support for marijuana legalization; if Massachusetts want to legalize, it will be up to the voters; Wichita votes to decriminalize it, a CBD cannabis bill dies in Indiana, France okays safe injection sites, and more.

A proposal to legalize hash in Egypt has stoked debate. (justice.gov/dea)

Massachusetts Lawmakers to Punt on Legalization. There is "no appetite" among lawmakers to address marijuana legalization, leaving the field open for ballot initiatives next year, said Senate President Stanley Rosenberg. "There's been conversations and there seems to be no appetite in the Legislature to take up... recreational marijuana, so you should expect to see it on the ballot in 2016," Rosenberg (D-Amherst) told the Boston Herald's internet radio station on Tuesday.

Wichita Votes to Decriminalize. Voters in Wichita voted 54% to 45% to approve a local initiative to decriminalize small-time marijuana possession. The measure would make first-time possession an infraction with a $50 fine. But state law says it is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, and state Attorney General Derek Schmidt (R) has vowed to sue the city if it passes. Stay tuned.

Medical Marijuana

Indiana CBD Cannabis Oil Bill Killed. A bill to allow for the use of CBD cannabis oil to treat children with epilepsy sailed through the House earlier this session, but was killed by a Senate committee vote Tuesday after prosecutors opposed it, saying it was similar to legalizing medical marijuana.

Massachusetts Revamps Application Process for Registered Dispensaries. The state Department of Public Health (DPH) today announced significant changes to the Commonwealth's Medical Marijuana Dispensary program first authorized in 2012. The revised process will license Registered Marijuana Dispensaries (RMD) in a format similar to other healthcare facilities, such as pharmacies, which DPH also administers. This process will phase out the current use of state procurement policies to register a dispensary. Click on the link for more details.

Drug Testing

Kentucky GOP Gubernatorial Hopeful Proposes Drug Testing Welfare Recipients. Would-be Republican gubernatorial nominee Hal Heiner is seeking to win support from the base by pushing a scheme to drug test welfare recipients. He made the call in a series of TV ads that began appearing yesterday. "I am simply asking welfare recipients to do what many employees in Kentucky are already required to do," Heiner said in a statement. "If working Kentuckians can be required to take drug tests, it is certainly reasonable to expect those who are benefiting from their tax dollars to do so as well."

International

France Approves Safe Injection Sites. The National Assembly Tuesday adopted a draft health law that will allow for safe injection sites for injection drug users. Opposition deputies denounced the move as "a first step toward legalizing drugs," for creating "no-go zones," and for sending "incomprehensible messages to our youth," but they did not prevail. Pilot sites will open in Paris, Bordeaux, and Strasbourg, and the law will prevent users from being arrested for drug possession within safe injection sites. Safe injection sites already operate in around 10 countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain.

Call for Hash Legalization in Egypt Sparks Lively Debate. Just a few days ago, Cairo tobacco traders called for hash legalization as a revenue measure and submitted a proposal to that effect to the cabinet, and that has sparked strong reactions. The Ministry of Social Solidarity's Drug Control and Addiction Treatment Fund warned that hash is a serious threat to Egypt, which is "safe by nature." The fund claimed hash is a major factor in road accidents because it causes "lack of awareness of one's surroundings." The fund also claimed that a survey it conducted found that 86% of rapists and 23% of murderers were hash users. But hash users cited in the story disagreed. Click on the link for more.

Mexican Cartel Attack Kills 15 Cops in Jalisco. An ambush of a police convoy by presumed drug cartel gunmen on the highway between Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara left 15 policemen dead and five wounded. It was the deadliest attack on Mexican police since 12 federal police were killed in neighboring Michoacan state in 2010. Fingers are being pointed at the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which has grown to be one of the country's most powerful. The state has seen a spate of violence in recent weeks, including a March 19 ambush of federal police that killed five, a March 23 shootout in which police killed a gang boss, an unsuccessful March 30 attempt to assassinate the state security commissioner, and the killing Monday of the police chief in the town of Zacoalco de Torres. The security commissioner said the recent attacks were revenge for the killing of the gang leader.

(This article was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

According to Tulsa's News on 6, citing a Tulsa County Sheriff's Office account, Harris was being investigated for "a form of methamphetamine called ICE" by the Violent Crimes Task Force. He sold meth to undercover officers on several occasions, during which he mentioned that he could also obtain a sawed-off shotgun and other weapons.

The task force set up a gun buy in a Dollar Store parking lot, and Harris delivered a 9mm semi-automatic pistol and 300 rounds of ammunition.

When an "arrest team" of deputies tried to arrest him, he "confronted undercover deputies" and fled. Deputies "observed him reaching for his waistband areas near his hip, causing concern for deputies' safety," according to the sheriff's office statement.

When deputies caught up to him, Harris continued to struggle and "refused to pull his left arm out from underneath his body where his hand was near his waistband." Reserve Officer Charles Robert Bates, 73, who was assigned to the task force, opened fire, striking Harris once.

The sheriff's office has not mentioned recovering any weapon from Harris (other than the one he sold them earlier).

According to the sheriff's office, "initial reports have determined that the reserve deputy was attempting to use less lethal force, believing he was utilizing a Taser, when he inadvertently discharged his service weapon."

The sheriff's department report said Harris briefly continued to resist arrest after being shot before officers managed to cuff him. It also claimed he told emergency medical personnel at the scene he had taken PCP. He was transported to a local hospital, where he died.

Bates is a retired long-time Tulsa police officer and "advanced level" reserve deputy, meaning he had hundreds of hours of training and annual weapons exams. He had training in "homicide investigations, meth lab identification and decontamination, and other specialized training."

Quinnipiac University polls in three big states show narrow majorities for marijuana legalization, medical marijuana and overdose prevention bills get filed in Alabama, Egypt's tobacco traders want to legalize and tax hash, and more.

Marijuana Policy

At Hash Bash, Michigan Lawmaker Says He Will File Legalization Bill. Tommy Chong got the biggest cheers at Ann Arbor's 44th Annual Hash Bash Saturday, but hometown Rep. Jim Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) may have a bigger impact on marijuana politics in the state. He told the Hash Bash crowd he would introduce a legalization bill. He said he was in the process of drafting the legislation.

Florida Poll Has Support for Legalization at 52%. A new Quinnipiac University poll has found majority support for marijuana legalization in the Sunshine State, with 52% of registered voters in favor and 44% opposed. Medical marijuana won overwhelming support, too, with 84% saying they favored it.

Ohio Poll Has Support for Legalization at 52%. A new Quinnipiac University poll has found majority support for marijuana legalization in the Buckeye State, with 52% of registered voters in favor and 44% opposed. Medical marijuana won overwhelming support, too, with 84% saying they favored it. The poll comes as at least two different groups seek to place legalization measures on the 2016 general election ballot.

Pennsylvania Poll Has Support for Legalization at 51%. A new Quinnipiac University poll has majority support for marijuana legalization in the Keystone State, with 51% of registered voters in favor and 45% opposed. Medical marijuana won overwhelming support, too, with 88% saying they favored it. A medical marijuana bill is in play in Harrisburg.

Alabama Medical Marijuana Bill Filed. Sen. Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) last week filed Senate Bill 326, which would allow doctors to recommend medical marijuana to patients and which has a unique scheme setting three levels of allowable amounts possessed. The bill would allow one dispensary in cities with a population of 10,000 or more and two dispensaries in cities with a population of 150,000 or more. Companion legislation is expected to be filed today in the House by Rep. John Rogers (D-Birmingham).

Alabama Opiate Overdose Reversal Drug Access Bill Filed. Rep. Allen Treadaway (R-Morris) has filed a bill that would allow doctors and dentists to describe the opiate overdose reversal drug naloxone to friends and family members of drug users. The measure is House Bill 208. It would also provide for training for law enforcement agencies that want their officers to carry the drug. The bill also has 911 Good Samaritan provisions.

International

Egyptian Tobacco Trade Group Calls for Hash Legalization, Taxation. The Cairo and Giza Tobacco Traders Association has called for serious study of a proposal to legalize the hash trade and said a 10% tax levied on hash transactions would quickly shrink the national budget deficit. The proposal is currently before the Legislative Reform Committee of the parliament.

A pair of congressmen reject the Justice Department's stance that it can still prosecute California dispensaries, an Alaska marijuana regulation bill moves, a Mississippi legalization initiative gets a boost, two Colorado harm reduction bills become law, and more.

Congressmen Reject DOJ Claim It Can Still Prosecute California Dispensaries. Reps. Sam Farr (D-CA) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), authors of the successful congressional budget amendment protecting medical marijuana in states where it is legal, have rejected Justice Department claims that it can still go after dispensaries in California. "The Justice Department's interpretation of the amendment defies logic," Farr said. "No reasonable person thinks prosecuting patients doesn't interfere with a state's medical marijuana laws. Lawyers can try to mince words but Congress was clear: Stop going after patients and dispensaries." A Rohrabacher spokesman added that "the congressman believes the amendment's language is perfectly clear and that the DOJ's self-referential interpretation is emphatically wrong."

Idaho Senate Passes CBD Cannabis Oil Bill. The bill was killed in committee on Monday, but brought back to life Thursday and passed the Senate today. Senate Bill 1146 would allow for the use of CBD for "intractable seizure disorder." It won the support of all seven Democratic state senators and 15 of 27 Republican state senators.

Harm Reduction

Colorado Governor Signs Harm Reduction Bills. Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) today signed into law two harm reduction bills: SB 15-53, which expands access to the opiate overdose reversal drug naloxone, and SB 15-116, under which people carrying needles would not be subject to arrest if they reveal they have them prior to being searched by police.

International

Indian Maoists Fund Their Fight With Marijuana. Officials in Orisha state say that Maoist militants known as Naxalites are relying on marijuana cultivation as a major source of funding. The Naxalite rebellion has festered in parts of the country for decades.

According to The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, citing police sources, Brown was sitting in a car with another man outside the Southside Garden apartments in Portsmouth when police conducting surveillance for drug activity suspected he might have been selling drugs. The other man got out of the passenger seat, but Brown, in the driver's seat, drove away. Police chased him through Portsmouth until he pulled onto the lawn of a residence and ran up to the front door. (It was Brown's house.)

An officer used a stun gun on Brown without being able to subdue him, police said. Brown and the officer struggled into the house, down a hallway, and into a bedroom before two other officers arrived. Brown was again hit with a stun gun, again to no avail. Police said he then pulled out a handgun. One officer yelled "Gun!" and tried to grab it from Brown's hand, and another officer opened fire, shooting Brown three to five times.

Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Brown's wife, Octavia, was in the house at the time. She told reporters she had been ordered out of the room where her husband and police were fighting. Then she heard shooting. She said police would not let her see her husband's body. She said he had just gone out to pick up lunch before going to work.

"Why would they take him from us?" she asked. "Why would they take him from his kids?"

She said police treated her husband like an animal.

"He didn't drink, he didn't smoke, he was a family person," she said. "He did not have a weapon."

Police said they recovered a handgun from the scene.

"I know my son had emotional problems all his life," said Walter Brown, Sr., who said his daughter-in-law had called him to tell him his son was dead. "He had problems with authority. He didn't like nobody grabbing on him. He would fight back," he said. "No matter if it was drug-related or whatever, it could have been handled a different way."

Meanwhile, according to The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, citing police sources, on Wednesday, the Broward County Drug Task Force was conducting an undercover drug operation in Oakland Park when Rodriguez, 38, showed up shortly before 10:00pm carrying a methamphetamine delivery.

When Rodriguez saw narcs approaching to arrest him, he swallowed the drugs. Detectives tried to stop him, but failed. They then called for medical assistance, and Rodriguez was taken to Holy Cross Hospital nearby. He then went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead.

A ban on civil asset forfeiture passes the legislature in New Mexico, there was a legalization demo in New Jersey and a medical marijuana rally in Tennessee, a UN agency says the herbicide used to spray Colombian coca crops causes cancer, and more.

Snohomish County, WA, is not jailing heroin addicts for nonviolent, misdemeanor offenses. (wikimedia.org)

Marijuana

Massachusetts Attorney General Opposes Legalization. Attorney General Maura Healey said today that while she supported a successful decriminalization initiative a few years ago, she doesn't support legalization. "I supported the effort to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana a few years ago, and I appreciated the motivation behind that move and ultimately, the law," Healey told Boston Herald Radio. "What I oppose though now is full legalization of marijuana." She said her views were informed by discussions with her counterparts in Washington and Colorado, who told her they had not seen a drop in drug trafficking and that people came from out of state to buy marijuana. A legalization bill is pending, and the state could see two different initiative campaigns next year if the legislature fails to act.

New Jersey Legalization Advocates Smoke Out in Trenton. More than a hundred people showed up for the "Spring Smoke Out" rally at the statehouse in Trenton Saturday. Led by veteran Garden State pot activist Ed "NJ Weedman" Forchion, the group toked up amid chants of "One, two, three four, smoke, smoke, smoke some more!" and demanded an end to pot prohibition.

Louisiana Medical Marijuana Bill Pre-Filed. State Rep. Dalton Honore (D-Baton Rouge) has pre-filed a bill that would allow for the use of marijuana for specified medical conditions, including seizure disorders, glaucoma, cancer, and the side effects of cancer treatments. The bill is House Bill 6. Last year, similar legislation failed to get out of committee in the face of opposition from law enforcement. The session begins April 13.

Bolivia Lashes Out at US Anti-Drug Report. The Bolivian government rejects the State Department's anti-drug report, released last week, which said the country is not complying with international anti-drug trafficking obligations."The report is unacceptable. The only thing it does is to put more obstacles to the hypocritical call to reestablish bilateral relations. This is the double standard policy that he US has and will always have," Government ministry spokesman Hugo Moldiz said.

Ten Killed in Mexico Cartel Attack on Police. Suspected drug gang members attacked a convoy of Mexico's newly militarized police force, the gendarmerie, in Jalisco state last Thursday, leaving five policemen dead, as well as three gang members, and two bystanders. It was one of the deadliest attacks on police since President Enrique Pena Nieto took office in December 2012.

UN Agency Links Herbicide Used to Spray Colombian Coca Crops to Cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a research arm of the World Health Organization, said last Thursday it had reclassified the herbicide glyphosate as a carcinogen. It cited what it said was convincing research showing that the herbicide creates cancer in lab animals and that it could cause non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in humans. Under a US-government supported program, Colombia has sprayed more than four million acres of land with the stuff in a bid to destroy coca crops. The Colombian government, however, expressed concern, but didn't say it was ready to stop the spraying. Eliminating cocaine "transcends" other concerns, said Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria.

According to a statement released by the Napa Police Department, officers with the department's Special Enforcement Unit were preparing to serve a search warrant for drugs and firearms at a residence in the city's Alta Heights section when Jimenez, the man they were looking for, drove by on a motorcycle.

Police had arrested him a month earlier on charges of possessing meth and ammunition. He recognized police and sped away, the statement said. Police took off after Jimenez in a short pursuit that ended when he crashed his bike.

Officers repeatedly shouted "Police, show us your hands, show us your hands" as they approached, but said Jimenez reached for his waistband for what they "recognized as a handgun." One officer then fired three shots, with at least one striking Jimenez in the torso.

"Following standard protocol, officers immediately secured the suspect in handcuffs and began CPR and other life saving measures," the statement said. But Jimenez was pronounced dead shortly thereafter at a local hospital.

Police said they recovered a "substantial" amount of cash, methamphetamine, and a gun at the scene.